"This is one of the most challenging decisions in someone's life, so it's important they choose a care home that works for them," Dix said outside the B.C. legislature on Wednesday.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says seniors going into nursing homes will no longer be forced to grab and move into the first available bed because as of July 15, they will be allowed to choose from their three preferred care homes.

The first-available-bed-policy was established 17 years ago and compelled families to make almost instantaneous decisions or risk losing the bed and sinking down the waiting list. Dix said families will now have up to three days to decide whether to take the available bed in one of the three preferred care facilities.

“This is one of the most challenging decisions in someone’s life, so it’s important they choose a care home that works for them,” Dix said during the announcement outside the B.C. legislature on Wednesday.

While waiting for a bed in a facility of their choice, people can either stay at home, with additional care, or go to an interim facility without losing their spot on the waiting list for a preferred facility, Dix said. Through a system of improved transparency, individuals will get more information about waiting times to any one of their preferred facilities. Historically, nursing-home clients have usually not been placed in a preferred bed in some regions such as Vancouver Coastal and Fraser Health.

“The Ministry of Health is making changes to give people more flexibility in choosing their preferred care home, give them more time to make these important decisions and provide them with the information they need to make an informed choice,” said Dix.

Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association, said the changes have long been necessary and “will go a long way in giving seniors more choice in the care they received.”

He said another change being made that Dix didn’t mention at the news conference has to do with terminology. The government is revising the Home and Community Care Policy Manual to move away from the term “residential care” because it’s considered by some First Nations to be culturally inappropriate. The term to be used now when referring to such facilities is “long-term care,” Fontaine said.

About 10,000 B.C. residents are admitted to care each year. The government funds about 28,000 residential care beds in either government-operated or privately operated facilities. Of the 28,000 beds funded by the government, 70 per cent are owned by private companies and 30 per cent are health-authority-owned-and-operated.

B.C. Senior’s Advocate Isobel Mackenzie was influential in the changes announced Wednesday as was the Ombudsman’s office. The Senior’s Advocate office offers an online searchable database of care homes with information that helps families learn about any quality of care and safety issues.

Changes announced by Dix will also require facilities to obtain consent for admission to a care facility. If an individual moving into a facility is incapable of giving consent for medical reasons, then a substitute decision-maker will. And if there is no such person, the Public Guardian and Trustee will step in.

Meanwhile, controversy continues to rage in Prince George over the abrupt closure of a private care facility.

Nine frail, elderly patients were told they had to move out last week after the facility operators were told they were understaffed. Some residents, like 91-year-old Kay Gable, were transferred by ambulance from the Enat Complex Care facility to hospital overnight for lack of any available beds in other care facilities. Other residents went elsewhere.

Gable’s son Kirk said Wednesday that his mom and eight other elderly individuals have now been moved yet again to an overcapacity Northern Health-region owned-and-operated facility called Gateway Lodge.

“They’ve turned activity rooms into makeshift bedrooms, but, of course, there are no bathrooms. There are five other facilities in Prince George, but they are all full and have long wait lists. So I don’t know when my mother will be moved yet again, or where,” he said.

Gable said he finds it “despicable” that the small, private facility for which his mother was paying $5,200 a month was forced to shut down because the government deemed it to be understaffed. The owners — a couple from Ethiopia — are recent immigrants with recognized nursing credentials but the health authority said they needed to have more nurses and care aides on staff.

The facility’s owner, Eyobe Abebe, couldn’t be reached for comment, but he previously told CBC that he couldn’t afford to operate the facility anymore with the new demands of a 24-hour registered nurse, another licensed practical nurse and another two care aides, on top of the three aides already there.

Eryn Collins, spokeswoman for Northern Health, said: “We are continuing to explore options and plan for their care and are communicating directly with residents and their families about their interim location and care, and the plans going forward.”

Gable said he’s perplexed because Northern Health had recommended the facility for his mom after his dad died recently. There was no advance warning of staffing problems or an imminent closure, he said.

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